Various types of interactive toys, including dolls, are well known. Toys that are responsive to a user's actions are desirable because they may enhance the interest and, consequently, the enjoyment of a user during play. The responses of toys in general, and particularly of toy animals and dolls, have conventionally been controlled using one of several standard triggering mechanisms. For example, children's dolls are known that cry or flutter their eyelids when tipped horizontally. It is also common for simple toys to make noise when air is forcefully expelled from them. Other toys are known that recite preprogrammed phrases or play songs when activated by the press of a button or the pull of a string. The sound activating buttons of such toys are often imbedded within them to create a more lifelike effect. For instance, a pressure sensitive button may be placed within the paw of a teddy bear so that the teddy bear plays pleasing music when the paw is squeezed.
The complexity of user-actuated stimuli and their corresponding reactions varies greatly along the spectrum of children's toys. As technology has advanced the responsive capacities of toys have matured as well, replacing squeeze toys and pull-string dolls with others controlled by embedded buttons, pressure sensors, photo sensors, and microphones. Prior publications of interest include U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,703,696; 4,328,478; 4,450,429; 4,768,378; 5,394,883; 5,820,440; and 6,053,797; and U.S. patent application Pub. No. U.S. 2002/0086607 A1, the disclosures of all of which are incorporated herein by reference.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,820,440 to Truchsess discloses a doll with pressure sensors located on its rump. The doll of Truchsess laughs or sings a nursery song when bounced or dandled on a user's knee. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 6,053,797 to Tsang et al. discloses a toy figure having multiple mechanical pressure sensors. The toy of Tsang responds in different ways depending on the amount and kind of mechanical stimulation applied.
Regardless of the particular embodiment, it is desirable to develop toys that incorporate sensing and responding means that are able to function together to produce the most realistic behavioral effect possible. Furthermore, the proficiency with which a toy is able to differentiate between and respond to varying inputs is also significant in producing a distinctive and enjoyable play experience. In these capacities, some toys are better equipped than others. For instance, a toy animal that plays a recorded song when a string is pulled is quite different from one that responds to a more lifelike stimulus such as a touch or spoken word.
However, toys that respond to auditory input received through a microphone, such as the doll taught by Chan in U.S. patent application Pub. No. U.S. 2002/0086607 A1, are also affected by certain inherent limitations. It is significant that the microphones in such toys lack the ability to distinguish between human voices and unrelated background noise, since they are activated solely in accordance with the volume of an input. As a result, the performance of such a toy is hindered by its tendency to respond inappropriately when confronted with any extraneous sound that lies within its effective volume range. For this reason, there remains a need in the art to develop toys that incorporate alternative techniques for sensing and responding to user stimuli in order to create an interesting atmosphere of human interaction.